Eczema!!

Ho'ea is five months old today! wow, he is almost half a year old! How time flies.

Last week, he started scratching his head/face more and I initially thought he was doing it as a sleep mechanism, b/c he would only do it just before he fell asleep. Well, then his cheeks started turning red, and then i thought he might be sensitive to the bath soap we'd been using (Kaua all of a sudden became sensitive at about 2-3 mos old...so I thought it could be something similar). But when we changed bath soaps without any improvement, and in fact, saw his condition worsening, I took him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with eczema last thursday.

The pediatrician (not his regular one....Kaiser will give you whoever is available to fit you in quick) recommended 1% hydrocortisone ointment and tons of moisturizer. That seemed to do the trick because that night, Ho'ea began sleeping through the night again (he had stopped ever since he first started scratching).

(OMG -side note, Kaua is watching sesame street - so I can have some down time to type - and elmo is on, his favorite, but they're discussing the weather and a tornado is depicted as a puppet and kaua is freaked out! He wants the tornado to go "bye bye" and he jumped and startled when it first appeared and even shuddered! Amazing...this isn't the first time he's seen this episode because we have it recorded for just in case emergencies, but its the first time he's reacted negatively to it. Wow, it really is true that when they watch the same show or read the same book over and over, they learn something new each time).

Unfortunately, the next day, Ho'ea started scratching again, but this time it was his scalp!!! I tried to apply the hydracortizone ointment and moisturizers to his head, but his hair is so thick, I dont know if I got it on properly. Anyway, it started getting worse again, and he even seemed to have it on his eyes and was constantly rubbing them, so I made another appointment today. (I did call the oncall advice line and spoke with another pediatrician over the weekend, who also told me to keep trying to apply the ointment and moisturizers to his scalp). Basically, the same pediatrician said there was not much more we could do....she suggested trying a dandruff shampoo, like Selson Blue, and referred me to the dermatologist. She also said that if I got desparate, I could try giving him 8 ML of benadryl (an antihistamine) (how I get 8 ML is pretty difficult, though, b/c I could only find liquid gel capsules of 25ML...but anyway) but that they did not recommend it to children this young. We talked about it as a last resort and the potential side effects (apparently, drowsiness is the only one, which is something that sounds appealing to me since he's having such a hard time sleeping). So tonight, I went to the store, purchased two additional types of eczema moisturizers, picked up some Selson Blue and benadryl and slathered them on Ho'ea. I have not given the benadryl and really will use it only if I'm desparate because I really try to adhere to the most conservative, less is more, approach to medications.

He's still scratching, but it seems less intense. *cross my fingers, knock on wood* I will still take him to the dermatologist when/if I get an appt. Not sure if they'll be able to do much more than I've already done (I did my google research - at the suggestion of the pediatrician at Ho'ea's first appt), but I want to make sure I cover all my bases.

Oh crap...he's up and crying.


And he's back down. (I'm typing this at night when he's sleeping, and he just let out a couple cries...but when I went to check on him, he was sleeping. This has been typical ever since the eczema came on....he wakes up fairly often, fussing, because he is so itchy).

Eczema is pretty awful. From what I've learned, this condition is common in infants and most of 'em grow out of it by the age of 2. (What, I've got a year and a half more left of this sad torture??!!) There is also apparently no cure, just different methods to help alleviate the itching and the scratching which makes it worse. Skin moisture (or lack thereof) is the key. Eczema runs in the family, and while DH and I dont seem to have it, I believe my dad had it and so did his mom. My cousin on my dad's side also said that her oldest daughter had it.

Ugh...it's awful to have your child suffer and you're helpless to stop it. I've been praying that God heals his condition and alleviates his suffering. My new year resolution is to get back closer to God. I feel like i've strayed over the past year or two, and I really want to rebuild/reestablish the relationship.

All is well and it's a....

SURPRISE!

First, we had our level 2 ultrasound yesterday, and as I suspected, baby #2 is looking normal so our risks of downs syndrome have gone back down to that which is normal for someone my age. The doctor went on to say that the ultra sound, like ours with Kaua, was "boring" meaning all looked normal, which is what we love to hear.

Second, the exciting news about this ultrasound is that we stuck by our decision to keep the gender of the baby a surprise for birth. I'm uber proud of myself and my resolve to keep the gender a surprise because I sooooo want to find out now and it would make naming the baby so much easier. And my DH wanted to find out the gender but was willing to defer to my choice to keep the gender a surprise. Because this may be our last child (I'm really thinking two children will be enough for us, b/c they are a handful and they are expensive!!) so I want to experience the excitement and surprise of finding out a baby's gender at birth.

During the ultrasound we told the technician that we wanted to keep the gender a surprise for birth, so she had us look away when she viewed "the goods." But she did confirm that the gender was readily apparent to her. In my head, I've construed that to mean that the baby is a boy, but my husband pointed out that it could just mean that she's experienced in these matters and can easily tell at this point (19 weeks 3 days) the difference between a girl and a boy on ultrasound. Of course, I'm hoping that DH is correct, because I am sooooo hoping for a girl.

But of course, any gender will be a blessing as long as the child is healthy. Which based upon the ultra sound is looking to be the case.

The other interesting piece of news that we learned from this ultra sound is that i have an anterior placenta. I asked about this because I haven't really been feeling the baby consistently like I did with Kaua at this point in the pregnancy. The technician confirmed that I indeed had anterior placenta which explains why the baby's movements haven't been as pronounced. I have only just very recently felt the baby and been sure that it was the baby.

So now that we've passed another hurdle of angst, the next dilemma - naming the baby and deciding where to give birth- here without the guarantee of receiving an epidural, or in the city (which will include with it tremendous expense and inconvenience, but will mean receiving an epidural for sure).

Thank you God for the great news!

Well, it's official...we're pregnant - Again!

Yuppers,everything went A-ok at the doctor's today. Little baby #2 (need to come up with a niickname like two-bbers, B2, or something...) is measuring 8 weeks exactly. Doc said b/c baby is measuring so close to my LMP, which is 8 weeks 3 days, that he's going to keep my EDD as 8/5/11, instead of the ultrasound EDD which is 8/8/11. He said the ultra sound is plus or minus 1 week in accuracy and when the US is so close in time to LMP, the LMP is generally the more accurate. This logic sounds good to me since Kaua came 1.5 weeks early when we used the ultrasound EDD.

So doc did a vaginal ultrasound. When he put that thing in there, at first we didn't see much, but as he moved it around, you could totally see a little blob, and then soon after you saw a little flickering which was the heartbeat. Doc was pretty cool and turned the screen so that both of us could see exactly what he was seeing at the same time. (I hate when they keep the screen facing away from you and make you wait to see anything, what is up with the secrecy? It is my lady parts afterall!) Anyways, Doc showed me the head and measured from there to the tail to get my EDD. He also showed me the yolk sac which he said was looking normal. He also showed me what appeared to be a slight septate in my uterus, which I remember my old OBGYN (who did the surgery for the septate) said I would still have, but that it wouldn't cause any problems with pregnancies. This new doc, Dr. K (who I LOVE!! very cool down to earth local boy, did his med school and residency in Hawaii and is from my hometown), said it almost looked like it could have been a bicornate uterus. Way too technical for me, but I think that means when the uterus is heart shaped. Anyways, he took one picture (just one??) of bebe 2 and gave it to me. I'll need to upload it later to share. Bebe 2 looks like a little gummy bear so far.

I didn't really ask much questions, bc hello, I'm like a pro now that this is my 2nd kid. duh! When the nurse asked me if I had the WTEWE book, I was like, shah, yeah, I have them all!

I'm such a pro that when doc asked if I had questions, the only thing I asked was about the drugs. There are rumors that the local hospital (did I mention, the ONLY hospital on this island) does NOT do epidurals!!! WTF!? People give birth w/o epidurals nowadays????? You've got to be kidding me. But, Dr. K, tried to reassure me. He said, they do something similar to my beloved epi, but it wears off in 2-3 hours. I was like, hellow, my labor with Kaua was 10 hours and I needed the epidural for the whole time!!!! OMG...we need a back up plan!! But doc said,we could do the "other thing" (I forget what it's called) twice and they've recently been giving epidurals but it all depends on if the anesthesiologist is working or not. Dr. K also said he's had less complications with option #2, then with an epidural. I'm still not satisfied and am going to need to give birth elsewhere somehow.

Anyways, I digress....we'll figure this out later..in 7 months perhaps. Holy smokes a mommy of 2 in 7 months.....what the heck was I thinking?!!! Kaua is a handful on his own. I cant believe I'll have two of 'em in less than 1 year.

Doc said there's no cause for concern for me, so I dont see him again for 4 more weeks...or Jan. 26. The appt was pretty quick and then i went and did my labs,where they withdrew half the blood in my body. Hello do you really need 6 vials of blood??? geeze, what's the poor kid going to live on?

So I've decided I'm going to go the ever "original" route of telling people by making Kaua wear a "I'm going to be a big brother" t-shirt. I just ordered it from cafe.press today...but b/c I live in boonieville, it's not going to arrive here until after the new year. (and I even ordered it on the fast shipping track).

My tummy is already kinda showing, but if you dont know what to look for, you'd think I just kind of went overboard on the holiday eating (which I did). So I'm probably not going to go "live" with these posts until after I get the shirt and have had a chance to have him wear it around friends and family. I wonder how many people will get it right away? I'd probably be one of those people who dont even notice the writing on the shirt. Lol.

Anyways, so yup, operation, grow this baby #2 is underway.

Doctor's Appt made

Ok, so I made my first doctor's appointment. They dont want to see me until I'm closer to 8 or 9 weeks and according to my LMP, I'm exactly 5 weeks today. So my appointment is for December 27, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. I requested to see the OB one of my hula sisters is seeing. She said he's good, and I like that. So with that said, we wont be able to confirm this pregnancy until then.

I did take another internet cheapie HPT yesterday AM and it was still positive. But I did notice that they expired last month...so you never know. But today was the last day I should have expected my AF and so far she's a no show.

I'm still alternating between excitement about this pregnancy and anxiety. Anxiety more so that I'm not sure if we're ready for round 2. Anxiety that our plans to travel in September are now going be canceled. I cant take a 1 month old child traveling and there's no way we'd leave this baby at home. Ugh.

I'm still counting my blessings and ever thankful to the Lord for this tiny miracle though. It's all meant to happen for a reason.

9 months update

This post is a week or so late in coming but Kaua is 9 months old now! He weighs approximately 21 pounds and is 29 inches long. He's 75th percentile for height and 50th for weight. This has been the trend for the past two visits now, so he's been staying pretty constant.

This past pedi appointment, there were no vaccinations...you're thinking yay, no needles?! Yeah right!!! He had to get a TB skin test, which wasn't so bad AND a blood draw. Again, if it had been just a needle, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the nurse wasn't able to locate a vein in the usual spot in his arms, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo she had to nick his finger tip and DRAIN THE BLOOD MANUALLY (think: squeeze his finger/hand so that blood dripped down and out) and fill TWO VIALS! OMG!!! Talk about traumatic (for me mostly, not him). He was a trooper for the nick in the finger and for a little bit of the blood dripping, but she had to squeeze his finger and hand for at least 1-2 minutes to get enough blood to fill the vials and boy oh boy the poor baby was screaming and trying to yank his hand away. I normally sing to him to keep him distracted and I clearly remember going through several stanzas of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Old MacDonald Had A Farm before she was through. It took sheer will power to keep my voice steady and not break out into tears. And I had to go through this all on my own, DH was at work for this appointment (Had I Known It was going to be BLOOD LETTING, I would have made sure he was off). But anyways, moving on.

The little goober is sure getting an attitude. He will definitely let me know what he wants and doesn't want and is starting to see if throwing a fit will help achieve his goal. These fits include tears, screaming, back arching and general difficultness. I've decided that when he gets like this (for no reason, b/c sometimes he does have a legitimate need), I simply put him down on the floor and let him continue on throwing a fit. I'm trying to find the happy medium between meeting his needs and letting him know that this type of behavior is not acceptable and not the proper way to get what he wants. Of course, he is JUST nine months old, so I'm not sure how much of my explanations are getting through to him, but I console myself by thinking that "at least I'm trying and one day he will understand what I'm saying."

On the tooth front, he's got 1 tooth on top and a 4TH tooth coming in on the bottom (5 toots total now). =) He still dislikes most baby foods and is still a finicky solid foods eater. He likes yogurt, crackers, noodles, bread and rice with gravy/sauce on it. We try to sneak in baby foods filled with veggies and fruits into these starches so that he gets the nutrients that his body needs to grow. But feeding time is still a challenge.

ON the mobility front, he's still army crawling, though we have seen him crawl on his hands and knees. He just seems to prefer his old faithful method of traveling. He can pull up well and has been starting to cruise, but still cant get himself back down without plopping down. He hasn't stood on his own (without support of furniture or a person) yet. He can clap and we're working on teaching him bye-bye. He likes to copy certain sounds we make, one of the most funniest being the sound "ah" one would say after eating or drinking. Super funny.

It's been a while since I've posted a picture of the goober boy, so here are a couple.

I'm still here!

Hello bloggy buddies.

It's been a while since my last post (a little over 1 week). Just been plowing along with life.

Kaua has had a cold for over 4 weeks now! We took him to the doctors when he first had the cold (April 28) and again on Tuesday (May 18) and basically we've been told that its not serious, there's nothing we can really give him to help it pass, and to just let it run its course. It's been somewhat miserable at night when he wakes himself up coughing, but other than that, he seems to be a happy camper. His cough is pretty bad though. When his congestion was really bad, we'd have to prop him up in his car seat in his crib. Like so....

(Too funny his pose, he's actually sleeping like this. When we walked into the room and saw this, we had to snap a picture).

Luckily, the congestion is getting better, but that darn cough is still there. We've been rubbing Vi.cks on his chest and back in hopes that it'll help, but nope, not much luck there. Poor guy.

In eating news, nope, we still dont have the sprouts of any teeth yet, but we are expanding his food repetoire (sp?). We've went from rice cereal and poi, to squash, peas and today carrots. I had all these big designs to make his food myself, but right now, I just cant find the time to do it...so we're feeding him Earth's Best organic baby firsts from Whole Foods. So easy to just buy the jar and pop it open. He seems to like all the foods we've introduced so far. It's kinda cute when we introduce a new food to him, he shudders and it appears as if he doesn't like the food, but then he'll happily chomp away. He's finishing about 1/3 of a baby food jar in one sitting. He seems to be hungry fairly often (looking at my food when I eat it and showing interest in it), so we've just begun feeding him baby food or rice cereal 3x a day. He eats every time! I've also been feeding him small sips of water from a cup or glass and occassionally when we're on the go, a sippy cup. I read somewhere that getting a child used to a cup or glass now is better than a sippy cup, because at this age they're still maleable to anything. If we get him too accustomed to a nipple or sippy cup, he may not transition to a big boy cup as easily. Ah, whatever, I think I use a regular cup with him because i'm too lazy to go get a sippy cup for him and just give him sips from the water I'm drinking.

I've begun contemplating weaning him off breastmilk. On the one hand, it's just so time consuming and demanding to be pumping every 3 hours or to be present to breast feed him. I really do plan my life around pumping or breast feeding, and I'd love to have the luxury of not having it be that way. But on the other hand, I'm cheap and dont want to spend the money on formula and am worried I'd be taking away any additional health benefits that Kaua may get from my breast milk. DH wants me to continue breast feeding, but only because he read somewhere that its good for Kaua. I will at least do some research as to whether it really makes a difference to breast feed or formula feed your baby after he is six months old. For some reason, I feel as if I read that breast feeding for 6 months is ideal, and after that it doesn't really matter. (but I could just be making that up).

The little guy is about 18 lbs now (17 lbs, 9 oz) and wears size 6-9 month clothing exclusively and some 12 month clothing. He'll be 6 months old on May 27! Half a year away to his first birthday party!

In milestone news, we're working on having him sit by himself unsupported. He can sit pretty well on the couch:

But sitting on his own without any back support is still iffy. He can sit ok, but someone needs to be there to make sure he doesn't topple forward or backward or to the side. It's quite funny really. He's still not a crawler. He doesn't even get up on all fours when on his tummy and I'm not sure how to show him how to do it. He does roll from front to back and vice versa pretty regularly, and sometimes it drives me bananas because when he's sleeping with us, he ALWAYS rolls himself all the way over to me, crowding me on the bed, no matter how often I move him away, he somehow finds his way back to me. And usually, it's his feet or hands that are digging into me. He also loves to be held so that he can stand on his legs. I've heard of babies going directly from back/tummy to standing on their own (skipping the crawling stage) and I wonder if that will be Kaua. One thing is for sure, when he starts to move, we're going to have to baby proof the house. (Hopefully it'll be a house of DH and my own...we're in the market to buy again!)

His bed time is between 7pm and 8pm usually and he takes either two long naps during the day (approximately 1-2 hours) or if there's too much noise and his naps are disturbed, he'll take three cat naps throughout the day. He gets up at the God-awful hours of 5am-6am daily! On the rare occasion, when he gets up before 5am and wants to play, I can sometimes get him to fall back asleep in half an hour and he'll then sleep until about 7 am and that's what I call "sleeping in!" So as you can see, these kind of hours really take a toll on any night life I'd like to have (like I have any option of having a night life....at my new/old hometown, there is nil in the way of nightlife).

Well, that's all in the news of Kaua-chronicles. I hope everyone else is doing well out there!

2 month vaccinations

Two days ago, Kaua had his 2 month pediatrician's appointment. He's doing great! He weighed in at 13lbs 14oz and 24.5". That put him in the 90th percentile for height and weight. Guess we gotta big boy on our hands. I hope that trend continues! =) Doc said he was a perfectly healthy happy baby...so we're good.

At this appointment he was given his first round of vaccinations. He had an oral drink and 3 shots. He puked up the oral drink. I mean projectile vomit. It went all over daddy's shirt and pants and even into daddy's pants pocket. I guess he didn't get any of that vaccination. The nurse said it was ok, and it was probably because he had a full tummy (I had nursed him about 1 hour prior to the appoinment though). She said he'll get that oral drink again at his next appointment....not sure how we'll get around the projectile vomit....I guess we'll ask the doctor.

Then he got three shots in the legs. He took the shots ok. Of course he cried and freaked out and it was a little traumatic for DH who had to hold down his arms while the nurse held down his legs while she did it. I thought it was going to be difficult for me to watch but it wasn't. To me, seeing his pain afterwards was worse.

He seemed relatively fine for the most part after the shots. He was groggy and a little fussy which was to be expected. He went to sleep but when he woke up later in the evening he was not a happy camper. He was crying pretty loud and you could tell he was not feeling good. He also had a fever of 99.6. We didn't have any children's tylenol because I (stupidly) listened to my mom who said that I didn't need it. (I had said that I read other moms comment that they give their kid tylenol before the appointment and it works wonders and my mom made me feel like it was completely unnecesary). Next time, I'm sooo going to listen to those other mom's out there...... Anyways, i made DH run to the store at night to pick up the infant tylenol but by the time he got back, Kaua had fallen asleep. I didn't want to wake him so he didn't end up getting any. He woke up in the middle of the night for his regular feeding, and he seemed fine..and since then he's been great.

So all in all, not too bad for the first set of vaccinations. It is heart wrenching though. Knowing that you're causing your child pain. But the way I cope with it is that I'm sure if he were to get sick with any of the illnesses we're vaccinating him for, he'd be feeling 10x worse and for much longer than he does for the vaccinations. It is a little scary though -- reading about the potential side effects of the vaccinations. But for now, I'm trusting good old western medicine and am getting Kaua vaccinated. I know there are other moms out there that have opted not to vaccinate or to go on an extended vaccination schedule. Hey, whatever works for you, I'm all for it.

Kaua will get his next round of vaccinations at his 4 month appointment in April. Not looking forward to it...

38 weeks

I'm 38 weeks 2 days today. I just had my PNA and sadly, I'm just 1 cm dilated and very little, if at all, effacement. I saw Nurse Wonderful again today and she said she thinks I'm going to give birth close to (or after) my due date. =( I'm surprised at how devastated I am by this news. I think part of it is because a friend of mine, who was due just 4 days prior to me, just gave birth on Sunday. (Her water broke a little, so they started her on pitocin). That gave me hope that my time would come soon...but she was dilated for 2 cm for a while already. I just started dilating, and the way Nurse Wonderful said it, it sounded like I was 1 cm at best. =(

The good news is I gained back the 5 lbs I lost over the past few weeks. So I've been given the green light to be able to exercise again. not sure what kind of exercise I'll be doing, but probably lotsa walking and of course - s.e.x. - as DH and I try to speed this little guy's arrival along.

I also now know what a contraction feels like because when NP Wonderful was in there, she massaged the cervix a little to try to get it to soften/open up. The cramping that I felt during this was what she said I could expect to feel when I have contractions. I now know that the BH that I though I was having were not BH, but instead just baby boy, sticking his body out, making my tummy feel hard. that explains why I'm not very dilated at this point despite the "BH" I thought I'd been having daily. lol. Ah well, at least now I know.

So how am I feeling at 38 weeks? Heavy and sore and uncomfortable. Walking hurts. Moving my right leg at all, hurts (even to put on clothes, get out of bed, standing up from a sitting position, everything!) My feet are tired. My body feels tired. My brain feels tired. I think a lot of this has to do with not only being 38 and a half weeks pregnant, but also the heavy work load I've been enduring for the past 3 weeks, coupled with the house in escrow and all the paperwork and deadlines I'm having to go through associated with that, plus having a part-time DH (since he's gone 3-4 days of the week) and also living with my MIL. It's just too much for me.

I know, I'm throwing myself a pity party. I'll perk up b/c my mom comes into town tomorrow night until Sunday night! Yippee!! (Not sure how this is going to work with MIL visiting since we only have one guest bed. I have a feeling MIL will stay with other relatives while my mom is in town...but I haven't exactly spoken with her about it.)

And last, but certainly not least - here's my 38 week belly photo:



I forgot to measure myself!!! Not to worry, I'll probably have a 39 week belly photo to measure myself with. Ok, pity party B MoM over and out!

Two hospital visits in 1 week!

First off, I'm ok, baby is ok.

Now on to my stories. So my weekely PNA appointment was on Tuesday. I saw NP wonderful again, and apparently I've lost 3 more pounds!!! (For a total of 5 lbs in two weeks.) I swear I was trying to eat more since my last PNA appointment, but apparently, I haven't been. (I even went out to dinner with DH for our anniversary, ate my whole plate, had two rolls and cheesecake for dessert!) So of course, Nurse Wonderful wasn't too happy with me. She checked me out (felt the baby, checked his heartbeat and checked my fundal height) and all was normal. But she wanted me to have an ultrasound just to make sure. Unfortunately, the ultrasound technician was completely booked or busy or something that day at our clinic, so she sent me to the KP hospital for a Fetal Non-stress test and fluid evaluation instead. She said she just wanted to make sure my fluid levels were adequate and that wasn't the reason for my weight loss (which I knew it wasn't, the weight loss is due to all the stress I'd been having at work). So off to the hospital I went, with DH in tow. We got there and another nurse did the fluid level check. Everything was normal. Then she hooked me up to the fetal monitor. Pretty trippy to hear baby's heartbeat for that length of time. I had no contractions during the stress test (booooo, not going into labor just yet huh?), and baby passed the test - they look for at least two heart rate accelarations in the 20 minutes and he had four. So everything was all good. They sent me home with instructions to try to eat more snacks in between meals -- like shakes or jamba juice. I'm trying, I promise!! If only I could have this weight loss problem after pregnancy!!

Ok, flash forward to last night. I meet up with a girlfriend for dinner and (sorry this is kinda tmi) I noticed that my panty liner (which I've started wearing for the past three weeks to collect the excess discharge) is soaked through. I take it off, but dont replace it b/c I'm at dinner and dont have an extra on hand. No biggie I think b/c excess discharge is nothing new to me at this stage in the pregnancy. However, after dinner, as we're browsing through a store with another friend, I start to feel these sharp pains in my bladder and cramp like pains in my lower uterus (imagine severe menstrual cramps accompanied with someone stomping on your bladder). I was in pain for a good 5 minutes or so and it was uncomfortable. I had had these same type of pains Tuesday night, but figured it was baby stomping on my bladder. I tried to see if there was anything about this in my WTE book, but nothing. So when it happened again last night, I thought, hey, maybe I better call the advice nurse to see if its anything to be concerned about. So, I head out of the store, and stop off at the public restroom, to try to empty my bladder to see if it will help. At that time, I again notice that I have a lot of wetness on my panty since dinner.

So on the drive home from dinner (the pain is gone at this point), I call the advice nurse. I ask her about the pain, but in the process of telling my story, I also tell her about the soaked panty liner and wet undies. She tells me she's not very concerned about the pain, but its the pantyliner and wet undies that's got her more concerned. She says it could be leaking amniotic fluid. At this point, I'm doubtful, so I'm trying to barter with her, saying I think I'll just head home, change my underwear, put on a new pantyliner and see if those get wet too. Of course, though, she tells me that it would be her advice to just come in to L&D to make sure it's not amniotic fluid. This being my first baby and all, I feel guilty if I dont comply and say, ok, I'm turning around and coming in.

So I get to the hospital, and at this point my cell phone is dead. (Note to self, carry phone charger in car at all times!) I had called DH to tell him the situation (He's off island right now), but also told him, dont worry, I doubt its anything and that I'll call him as soon as I know what's up. And my lovely friend whom I was with at the store is worried about me, so she tries to check on me and my cell phone is now dead. So of course, she calls our close circle of friends to see if anyone knows what's up, and they dont....so they get in touch with DH. DH tells them I'm at the hospital and of course, that starts the worry chain. (My friends are super cute and caring!!!) I'm at the hospital for about 1 hour while the docs and nurses check me out. I'm hooked up to the monitors again, and lo and behold, I have a couple contractions!! I'm thinking, uh-oh, is this it? I dont have anything packed, none of the baby's clothes are washed, and DH isn't even here! But of course, the contractions stop and they are super inconsistent (totally normal for this stage in my pregnancy). I'm not dilated at all, and the fluid...it's just discharge (like I thought!!). So the hospital says I'm not in labor and my water isn't broken yet, but I did the right thing by coming in just to be safe. They also say that most first time moms come in to the hospital on at least 2-3 occassions for false alarms. I guess we can chalk me up to having false alarm #1 (even though I really didn't want to go, the advice nurse guilted me into it). I let DH and my friends know that I'm getting discharged and I head home. BTW: the reason for the pain? Apparently baby is banging his head on my uterus and cervix, which is causing me all this pain. According to doc, he's very active and this is normal. When I feel the shooting pain sensation, my instructions are to try to move around a bit (walking etc) to try to get him to shift. It should go away in a several minutes, but if it keeps staying consistent, then I should call the hospital again.

So today, everything is great. Baby is fine. I'm trying to eat more. And since I'm here, and able to blog (while at work!) you can see that for today, my work load is decreased. =) (Let's hope it stays this way!)

Tomorrow I have a baby shower with these same lovely friends who were all so worried about me. (Even the hospital staff commented on how lucky I must be to have such a great support group...and you know what? I am lucky!!). Looking forward to it!

(And another note -- which will be another post someday -- ITS THE RETURN OF THE MIL!!!! SHE'S COMING ON SATURDAY AND STAYING INDEFINITELY TILL THE BABY IS BORN!! ACK!!!!)

37 weeks

37 weeks today! Here's the belly photo.



I'm still 40.25".

I had my first weekly PNA this past week, and I saw Nurse Wonderful. She's still wonderful. =) But I lost 2 lbs since my prior appt and she was a little concerned. She said I've only gained 9lbs since 27 weeks. I think overall my weight gain is still good - 29lbs and my belly measurements are still right on track. But she said now is the time I should be gaining some weight b/c baby needs all the fat he can get. I chalk up the weight loss to the work hours I've been putting in. I've been working like crazy and therefore have not had time to blog or catch up on blogs at all. On top of that, I've been dealing with our house being in escrow (yay!) and of course, having a baby! Whew! But I'm handling it all in stride, and I'm doing ok. I've been trying to make sure I eat three square meals each day, and now I'm trying to make sure I have a snack in between each meal. That should do it. Who knows though, I may just be one of those people that gain all their weight in the beginning of the pregnancy.

I asked her to see if she could estimate how big the baby was at that appointment and she said he's about 6lbs. She said if I go all the way to 40 weeks, she'd guess he'd be born at 7.5 to 8 lbs. Sounds good to me! =) I'm soooo ready for him to come now, but I think he'll probably wait till it gets closer to the DD. He's still head down and will likely stay that way for birth. Good boy!

I've got one more baby shower next weekend, and I'm excited for it. It'll be with all of my friends. =) Despite having one more baby shower, I couldn't help but get some of the things I still needed this weekend when I returned that expensive BRU bed set (I did keep the receipts though, just incase I need to return stuff). I picked up the baby monitor we wanted (the Sony 900), a changing table cover, a mattress pad, some baby detergent (so I can start washing baby's clothes and sheets), some Avent bottles, a bottle warmer (so daddy can feed Kaua breast milk too) and some baby beenies (how much do you think I'll need of those? I didn't know I already had 3, and I bought 3 more to make 6...too much??? We'll be moving to a colder area soon, so I want to be sure baby is warm). I still want to get a couple crib sheets and one or two sheet savers, but that'll be for the next go round. After getting that, and the breast pump and sling/carrier I'm hoping to get from the baby shower (I know, I sound presumptuous dont I?), I think we'll be as ready as we can be for Kaua to come. woohoo, I'm excited!!! 3 more weeks to go, and hopefully less than that. If my DD comes and goes without Kaua's appearance, I'm going to go crazy!

I'm planning to talk to the boss that's been giving me all this work on Monday to let her know that I'd like to scale back my work the week of November 30 since that's the week of my DD, and I think she'll be understanding. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that when I told another boss about my not so concrete situation with moving and escrow (if escrow goes well, we move out 12/22, if not, then no moveout date as of yet) and the possibility that my last day of work may be the day I give birth, he was very supportive. He said not to worry, just let them know when I know for sure, and not to worry about medical insurance because they'll be prepaying for that month anyways. =) I was worried that they would want a more definite date (I cant give them one until all of the escrow dates where the buyer can pull out have passed - so far we passed the C-52 inspection, but the biggie is whether the appraisal will come in at the price the buyers' are paying which will enable them to get their financing with their lender!), but he was very understanding. I'm really really glad I work for this firm and I'm sad to be leaving (somewhat sad at least). I know I'm not cutout to do this line of work because I'm too much of a nice guy and my feelings get hurt when I deal with a-holes that come in this line of work. I do know that if I was to continue working in this profession, my plan would always be to work for this firm. I look at my leaving the firm as a way to explore a new career, something that I'll enjoy doing every day.

Anyways, last but not least, my DH and I are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary this weekend (the date was actually on the 10th but DH was out of town. And you know what I just realized, that means that this is the 1 year anniversary of this blog as well, b/c I remember my first entry on this blog was on our wedding anniverary, so happy blogoversary to me too! My how things have changed from that day to this!). DH and I exchanged gifts last night - cotton - he bought me a very cute sweater/top from the town where he is stationed at (in a size for when I'm back to my regular prepregnancy shape, which I hope will be soon, I miss my cute clothes!) , and I bought him boxer shorts with embroidery on it that says "Property of B MoM" as well as an Itouch armband for him to use when he's working out. (Obviously since money is tight, our budget for gifts is minimal). Tonight we're going to a nice dinner which will be our first since we've been pregnant!, and we're realizing that this will also be the last time as just the two of us. Next weekend he'll be working out of town, and the weekend after that is Thanksgiving and my mom will be here, and the weekend after that, we expect to be a trio!! Craziness to think of it that way!

Oh and p.s. - here's the picture of the walmart bedding that we got for about 1/3 of the price as the BRU bedding:




I think we did pretty good for 1/3 the price!!! And that's the first toy/stuffed animal I ever bought for Kaua - a firefighter wish-bear, just like his daddy. =)

it's been a while! 35-36 weeks

It's been a while since I last posted! I'm now 36 weeks pregnant and considered full term! Just 4 more weeks till D day, though I wish it could be sooner. A lot has been going on for me, and sadly, I haven't had a chance to post about it because my work is killing me. I'm sooooo looking forward to the day I give birth, in large part because I'll be done working. I'll be done working because...our house is in escrow!!!! We received two offers in the two weeks that we've put it on the market and we countered one of them to get the price we wanted, and they accepted yesterday!!! If all goes well, which we'll have to pray about, our closing date will be December 22!!!! I'll be home for Christmas!!! Crazy! I'm not even sure how I'm going to tell my work, or what that means for maternity leave, medical, my christmas work bonus, etc (but I'm going to worry about that one day at a time).

Now, on to baby stuff. First, my dad bought and shipped over our car seat!!! It looks great and yesterday, my DH installed the base into our car (now that was interesting, but we've got it done, so we're good).



This is a Graco Snug Ride 32 car seat and I've chosen these colors so that if (and I'm hoping when) we have baby #2 (who I'm praying will be a girl), it'll be color neutral enough. I've of course, also chosen the carseat b/c it accomodates infants who are 32 lbs and 32 inches long, so Kaua should be able to use this hopefully till he's 1 year old. Sometimes, when babies are big, they outgrow their carseat before they turn 1, and the recommendation is that infants stay rear facing until they are 1.

Yesterday, DH and I had our hospital tour. It wasn't much, but we at least got to see where we need to go when its time and the facilities are pretty nice. The wing is fairly new at our hospital, so there's a lot of nice amenities and upgrades from the old L&D wing.

I've also flew back home for my mom's baby shower last weekend. It was so nice to be back home and be near my doggie! We had such a good time and I got tons of stuff that we'll need, and tons of stuff we dont need, but it's the thought that counts right? Luckily, we've been able to return a lot of the big ticket items we dont need, so I can (and have been) using the store credits to get stuff we do need.

I've solved the bedding dilemma and bought a different bedding from WAlmart for much less than the exhorbitant BRU price. I dont have a picture yet, but I will go take one now and upload it during my next posting. During this trip home, I really visualized DH and I actually living there, and I could do it. It was nice. On my previous trip home, I was worried about moving there because I felt like it would be too slow for us compared to the city we live in now....but over this trip, because we were all there, my doggie was there, and we spent a lot of time with family, it reminded me of why we were moving home, and I was happy. It'll be quite an adjustment, moving back in with mom, but we'll do it. And the goal will be to save up enough money over the next few years to buy again!

And finally, a pregnancy update. New on the pregnancy front are Braxton Hicks. I've been having at least 1 or 2 a day. Usually more. They're not sore, and they're super infrequent, but they're there. I can tell I'm having one b/c my tummy feels tight and I can see the outline of baby boy a little more in my tummy (like two huge bumps in the middle of my belly).

During my appointment last week, the doc had to do a vaginal strep culture. Since he was down there, he did an internal check to see if I was dilated or effaced, and nope, none of the above. =( Looks like baby is still going to keep cooking. Bab was head down and in the right position so that's the good news. Doc was also happy because he said he wants baby not to come until anytime after today. But man oh man, is this last month the MOST UNCOMFORTABLE! I'm a little swollen in my feet, but not much. But the backache has stepped up and the RLP has stepped up considerably. It's really really uncomfortable to get up from sitting positions or lying positions. It even hurts a lot sometimes when I'm walking. Baby boy's kicks are distracting at times, but that's nothing new. And of course, I'm getting huger and huger, which makes me feel so blah......I dont even want to take maternity photos anymore b/c of how big and bloated I look and feel. Pregnancy glow?? Not me! But the good news is we're now considered full term, so whenever baby boy is ready to come out into this world, he'll do fine. I'm ready for him now!!!

Here are my 35 and 36 week photos:





As of today, my circumfrence is 40.25 inches.

31 weeks and 7th PNA update

I've completed 31 weeks of pregnancy this weekend. But I dont have a photo to share because I went camping (that was super fun!).

Last week friday I had my 7th PNA. DH was off and was able to come along. This was the last of my every 4 week appointments. I'm now going to have PNAs every two weeks, next one next Friday already!!

Kaua is doing well. Doc didn't comment on my uterus/tummy measurement, but I'm assuming all is well since he ended the appointment saying that I'm doing exceptionally well. Doc also didn't comment on my weight gain (he never really does), but I gained 4 lbs since my last PNA putting me up to 26lbs total!!! bleh! Kaua's heartbeat was normal and he appeared to be head down. Doc answered a bunch of prewritten questions I had. Off the top of my head, here are some of the things we talked about:

He indicated that what's been known as a "walking" epidural would not be very effective because if I have enough feeling "down there" to be able to walk around, I likely wouldn't be getting very significant pain relief, which is the purpose for an epidural. He stated that a perenial massage wouldn't be necessary (if I didn't want one). He said that he prefers natural tearing over an episiotomy, unless there is a reason to cut (likely due to fetal distress and the need to get baby out quicker, or the need for a vacuum or foreceps to assist in the delivery). I can continue to workout at the gym like I've been doing up until birth as long as I feel ok. The increased discharge I've been noticing is completely normal for this stage in pregnancy, as long is its generally odorless and clear (which it has been). He offered me the flu shot, but I declined it, (my reasoning is because I've never had the shot before and I rarely get the flu nowadays, so I dont see the need for it). He was fine with me not getting the flu shot, but stated that he would like for me to get the H1N1 shot when it becomes available, which I likely will. He reassured me that its very common for a baby to favor one side of the uterus over the other. Kaua really really likes my upper right side. When he checked for Kaua's heartbeat, it was below my belly button (on the right side) which indicated Kaua is head down! (yippee!!!) and that the big bump that I always feel in my upper right tummy is likely Kaua's butt sticking out. I probably shouldn't try to push the bump in when it's uncomfortable, instead I should try to change positions or move around to get Kaua to move (FYI, this doesn't work all the time, sometimes Kaua is content to stay as is, no matter how I move around). His standard recommendation for purposes of temporary disability insurance is 6 weeks off froom work for a standard vaginal delivery and 8 weeks off from work for a c-section. He said that he would provide me with a recommendation to get off of work 2 weeks prior to delivery if I wanted it as well. I asked if he would simply add on the 2 weeks after I give birth, to his standard 6 -8 week recomendation for time off from work, but he said that the insurers are pretty strict and that increasing the time after delivery must be for a substantial reason. I doubt I'll take advantage of the two weeks off prior to delivery, just because we need my full salary, and there is no sense in me not working two weeks prior to delivery if Kaua isn't here. I'd much rather work to help alleviate our financial strains. Of course, if I could extend my maternity leave (with some pay) I would totally take advantage of it if it meant I could spend more time with my son.

That's all I can think of at this time.

On the symptom front I think the only new symptoms are somewhat slight swelling in my ankles. It's not really noticable in appearance yet, but I noticed it because one of my sandals that are normally too big for me, are fitting me a little better. The back straps still fall down, but they stay up for a little longer than before. I also have a little more pain when standing up at times (my uterus feels full or I feel some slight round ligament pain). According to WTE, Kaua is almost 4 lbs and almost 19 inches long. His weight gain and growth is supposed to slow down from now till birth. I'm feeling ready for him to come out now, (I miss my flat tummy and the ease of movement you take for granted till you have a huge belly) though I know its best that he doesn't show up till 36 or 37 weeks at the earliest. Less than 9 weeks till Kaua! I know I'm going to panic when it gets closer and I realize I still have very little baby things!!

Another PNA went well.

I'm losing track, I think this is my 6th PNA. We'll just call it my 27w3d appt since that what I am today. Overall everything is still going well. I gained just 3 lbs since my last appointment (but that could be because most of my appointments have been after lunch and this one was before, but hey, I'll take it). So far the weight gain is up 22 lbs since my prepregnancy weight and while that seems like way too much for me, the doctor said I'm right on track in the weight gain department. (Let's pray I only gain 8 more lbs total and I'll have stuck to my original goal of just gaining 30 lbs).

My uterus is also measuring approximately 27 cm which is right on track and Kaua's heartbeat was averaging in the 140 BMP which is also right on track. My pee test (which I think they check for sugars or proteins, who knows) is normal, my blood pressure is normal, just about everything is normal. Hah, you'd never guess the kind of MC history I had prior to this pregnancy had you not known about it. But it's all very good so I'm happy.

We talked about me passing the glucola test and being slightly anemic. Doc said it was normal for women in this stage of pregnancy to get slighly anemic and that if I had a low red blood cell count, I would feel fatigued and lethargic (not sure if I'm feeling that now) and that during birth, I will typically lose some blood and if that is coupled with an anemia condition, it could make me even more fatigued and lethargic after birth. So, I could either take an iron supplement OR eat more foods rich in iron. (Hmm, too late, I already bought the iron supplement based on the advice of the nurse who called me). So I told him I'll be doing both, taking the iron supplement and trying to eat more foods rich in iron. We went over the instructions that I was not to take the supplement with dairy products, but he did tell me that if I took it with citrus (like orange juice or cranberry juice) that that would HELP with the iron's absorbtion in my body. So perhaps, I'll go pick some cranberry juice up to have with my pill (which I love, but it's got to be cran-grape or cran-apple, or some other mixture) .

From here on out, doc said I'm supposed to be able to feel Kaua move pretty consistently. Doc was a little vague on the meaning of "consistently" but what I got from our discussion is that I should feel him every day, I should feel at least 6 movements after eating and if I think that I dont, I should drink something cold, lie down and really pay attention to his movements. Baby will typically move more when I'm resting.

As for what type of movement I'm actually feeling, I'd say he's pretty active often and I feel him probably every couple of hours. Over the past few days he's been very active, to the point where I'm like geeze Kaua, take it easy in there, I'm trying to rest! But he still makes me laugh. His movements are a mix between kicks (taps) and what I call body movements (where it seems like he's brushing a body part against my tummy or pressing his head or other body part out). Doc said that it's normal to be feeling the body movements at this point, but as the space gets more cramped, it'll diminish to more kicks. I can tell that Kaua is getting bigger because his movements are stronger and on the rare occasion, his movements/kicks will take my breath away or really make me pause. Nothing painful, just more surprising and sometimes uncomfortable or distracting. Overall, his movements are reassuring though.

I've been reading that some girls due around the same time as me are starting to have every 2 week appointments from this point on, but not me, I got one more 4 week appointment (sometime around October 3, they didn't have the schedule up yet, so they'll call me to confirm soon), then after that one (where I'll be almost 32 weeks), I'll be going in every 2 weeks.

I also asked if I had any other big tests to take and he said the only other thing that will happen that's different than what I've been doing in these PNAs is that at my 36 week appointment, they'll be doing a vaginal exam and culture to check on my cervix (looking for dilation) and to see what position the baby is in. Doc said that by 36 weeks, the baby usually doesn't flip around and is usually in the position he'll be in for birth. For about 95% of women, the baby is head down, but if I happen to be in that 5% category (breech), then we'll have to talk about my options then. I hope Kaua decides to stay in the 95% category. Doc said he thought the baby was head down during the exam because when he found the heartbeat (which was immediately, it's amazing how fast they find it now), it was below my belly buttom which indicated to him that baby was likely head down.

We also talked about pediatrician recommendations and pregnancy class recommendations. Lucky for me, he agreed that I didn't need to take the childbirth preparation classes (which cost $80!!). I am already taking other classes offered by my health care provider (which are free) which he said are the important ones, and I'm planning on renting the Laugh and Learn DVDs (on childbirth, labor, newborn care and breastfeeding) from my library, so we're covered in the educational department. Also, I asked about getting a lactation consultant and he said the way it works for our health care provider, the consultants usually come around while I'm in the hospital after birth to see if I need help. He said to be sure that I see one, all I need to do is tell the L&D nurse I'd like to see one and she'll set it up. So, no worries about that till after birth.

I meant to bring my birth plan in to talk about it with my doctor this appointment, but I forgot it (which is becoming quite typical for me nowadays - forgetfulness), so doc said to bring that in for the next appointment and we can go over it.

So far everything is going A-OK for me and baby and that's just dandy! (yeah, I said dandy. =) ) We're in the home stretch!! =)

T-3 and glucola test

Well, we made it to the third trimester! Yesterday, Kaua made it to 27 weeks gestation and here's my burgeoning belly picture:



I'm currently spending my last night visiting DH in his new home (my old hometown) and on the plane ride over several nights ago, my plane seat mate asked how far along I was and complimented me on how great I looked! She said, she hopes she looks like me (my size) when she's pregnant. I was pleasantly surprised...b/c I've always been getting comments on how big I am and my mom even said I may not eventually fit into the maternity clothes she bought for me for my birthday. (Thanks mom!).

Anyways, 27 weeks and the 3rd Trimester! Woohooo! The end is in sight! There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Dont get me wrong, I love being pregnant, but with my growing belly, it's starting to get uncomfortable. Baby moves a lot and sometimes when I'm trying to get comfortable, his kicks throw me off. It's almost like (well it actually is) my belly doesn't belong to me anymore, it belongs to him. I'm also just feeling really big and cumbersome. I'm 39 inches and I'm still growing! I know a lot of this growing is b/c I've got this unbelievable sweet tooth. I know I'm so going to kick myself after I give birth when I've got 20-30 lbs to lose. But you know how you know something is not good for you, but you do it anyway? Yup, that's me.

So I've got some good news. I passed my glucola screening test!!! Yippeeeeee!!! I took the test on friday and I got a call from my doctor's office on Saturday. They said I passed my glucola test, but my blood results showed that I was slightly anemic (meaning low red blood cell count, meaning I need to up my iron intake). She said that it's a very common symptom of pregnancy because the baby takes up a lot of the nutrients that I would normally get from food and all I really need to do is take an iron supplement. She also recommended I take the gluconate based supplement rather than the other one, (I forget the name) because that one supposedly causes less constipation. She also said that because an iron supplement can cause constipation, I should make sure my diet has lotsa fiber. She also instructed me to take the iron supplement at a different time than when I take my prenatal vitamin and not to take it with any dairy food/products because that can inhibit my body's absorbtion of the iron nutrient.

I'm very happy that I passed the glucose test. Especially b/c my coworker was surprised that I wasn't instructed to take the test first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. From what I hear, sometimes what you eat can affect your results because it affects your blood sugar. I took the test late in the afternoon after a very starchy breakfast and lunch. I specifically asked my doctor and even called the advice nurse before the test and both said I dont need to alter my diet at all (but my doctor did recommend that I dont take the test right before eating a candy bar and drinking a soda). And I followed their instructions, ate typcially for me and voila, I passed. =) woohoo! Back to work tomorrow, but the good news is, DH comes home friday night for the weekend! =)

5th PNA went well

By now, these PNA appointments are becoming fairly routine and uneventful for me. I even went all by my little self like a big girl. I got to see my old OB - Dr. B because my current OB, Dr. M. was on vacation. I like Dr. B because she has great bedside manners. I feel as if she takes more time with me to explain things. My repoire with her is best. But unfortunately, I had to switch from her because when I was having the MC complications, she kept referring me out to other doctors, which I didn't like. I want to see one doctor that does it all (sort of).

Anywas, back to my appointment. Baby boy is doing fine! (Thank you God!) His heartbeat was about 145-150. He wasn't moving very much when she had the doppler on me, (still moving though), but he's been quite the active little guy everyday, so I'm not worried at all. We discussed some questions I had about my funky nipples (apparently its normal for the tips of the nipples to harden a little - almost like scabs - in preparation for my milk production). She said if they get itcy, like they have been off and on, I can put lotion or oil on them (which I have been).

She also encouraged me to consider taking the H1N1 flu shot, which will be out and available in my clinic in October. She said that she's never seen the CDC or the government push a flu vaccination out so fast and explained that pregnant women are on the top of the list of who can get the shot because of the deaths in America, pregnant women are by far a large group of the population who are apparently susceptible, even though they are fairly healthy. I was at first, reluctant to get the shot because I dont like pumping my body full of chemicals and stuff if its not necessary. She helped ease my fears saying that it wasn't like these would be hormones or other chemicals, but instead types of proteins and viruses that will help my body fight off the virus should I ever come into contact with it. She said they've been giving pregnant women the flu vaccination for years and have not found any bad side effects, and the H1N1 would be no different. DH is still not sure he's into me having the shot, especially since October will be so close to my due date anyways (Dec. 6) that it may not even be really necessary. I'm going to give it some more thought....

If you're expecting, what's your stance on getting the H1N1 flu shot?

My next appt is in 27 days and I'll have to take my glucola test a few days prior to the appointment so we can go over my results. This is a big test for me because if I fail, I could have gestational diabetes which means a whole crap load of stuff I need to do to monitor it. (GD can cause your baby to grow to big and other complications in your pregnancy and with baby). My coworker had GD during her first pregnancy and just found out she has it again for her 2nd pregnancy. It's not a fun thing to have at all. And unfortunately, its just something someone gets during pregnancy, no matter how healthy or unhealthy they are. So this next appt will be a biggie for me. The good news for GD is that I'll be on a strict diet which will hopefully regulate this weight gain, because even though I've been trying to be good, I still gained another 5 lbs since my last appt. The total weight gain for me has been 19 lbs so far! yucky!

Also up on the countdown list for me - 2 more weeks till the MIL leaves!!! Ugh! Cant wait. She's a fine houseguest and all, but still, 2 months is just way way way way too long to be living with your MIL. I miss having it just be me and the hubsters at home. But the sad thing is DH leaves to go to his new job location (with less pay!!!) just 4 days after MIL leaves, so that's sad. =( We'll try to fly back and forth to see each other every weekend, but with a pay cut, it may not be feasible to do it every weekend. We'll see though...I'm going to pray to God about it, and I'm finding that He always answer my prayers.

20 week ultrasound

Yesterday's ultrasound went fantastic! Baby boy's heart is perfect. His anatomy is still perfect. Everything is going just smoothly. Based on such a good review, our risks for a baby with Ds decreased further by 50-70%. I'm not so good with numbers, but my quad screen risk assessment was 1 in 77 which is about 1.2% risk. If that decreases by another 50-70%, that means what, my risk is down to 0.03-0.05% risk? Those odds sound pretty darn good to me. =)

Yesterday I also learned that the length of my cervix is perfect, or as the doctor described it "beautiful" so no risk of preterm labor there. Interestingly, I also have anterior placenta, which just means that your placenta is growing towards the front of my uterus (rather than positioned closer to my back side), meaning that there's an extra cushion (the placenta) between baby and my belly muscles. The position of the placenta doesn't really affect your baby at all, but it could muffle my baby's movements and cause me to feel baby's movements later than others. Doc said this isn't always the case with someone with anterior placenta, and I'm not sure if its a factor in my baby movement feelings. Right now, I do feel baby boy, and have been since about 15 weeks, but perhaps those feelings could be a lot stronger than what they are. If that's the case, I'm kinda grateful, b/c that means maybe he'll be waking me up a lot less at night and have less kicks that are somewhat painful because I've got some extra padding to soften his blows. Eh, who knows. Not a big deal to me.

I also found out baby boy already weighs 1 lb! That's cool, because according to most websites and the WTE book, babies generally measure about 10 oz, so that means he's a smidge bigger than the average. Doc said that baby boy's measurements are right on schedule for how far along I am and so far my due date is still the same.

Baby boy is currently positioned head down (towards my cervix) and facing sunny side up (towards my tummy).

Let's see, what else did I learn. Oh yeah, this will be my last ultrasound with the perinatologist (unless there are other complications), so that's a good thing and bad thing. Good b/c who wants complications, not me! But bad b/c that may be the last I see of the firecracker till birth.

Ok, now for the cool stuff. the pictures! Baby boy was moving around a lot, as usual, so the profile pictures aren't the greatest, but nevertheless, I'm still a proud mommy.

Here's a couple profile pics. (with his legs cut off, hope that means he's long/tall).
In the first photo, you can see his umbilical cord just above his body:




Here's a profile picture with him waving and saying "Hi Mommy & Daddy!"


Here's a couple photos of his "man parts" and yup, he's quite clearly a boy!!!


The Doc zoomed in for this one, and I made the following comment (which caused him to chuckle and put it on the picture:)


And last but not least, here's a couple profile pictures with baby boy moving his body a bit. Notice in the second one, the doc pointed out that we can see his little peepee (look for the arrow):






That's all for today. Overall, it was an excellent 20 week and 1 day photo session for the firecracker! DH and I are overjoyed to have a healthy little boy. Thank you God for our miracle. =)

4th PNA went well... as usual.

Whew, sigh of relief. The 4th PNA went well. =) It was kinda boring, as usual. I had my IRL friend come with me since DH couldn't make it. (Thanks M.alia!)

We got to hear the firecracker's heartbeat, but only for a couple seconds because he was moving around too much and the doctor had to chase him. Doc said he's pretty active, and I think that's a good thing, though I didn't ask and he didn't say. But generally, I've known that an active baby is a sign of a healthy baby. It was also pretty funny b/c at one point, we could hear the faint sound of music. I commented that baby's got a radio in my tummy and doc laughed and said sometimes, dopplers pick up music.

Doc also told me that my uterus is about 1-2 inches above my belly button and said those popping, fluttery gassy feelings are probably baby movement. He said my bowels are pushed up higher, so anything belly button level and down is baby. That's awesome, b/c that means I probably have been feeling baby a lot. I'm pretty sure I felt him move last night and even in the middle of the night.

I've also been instructed that after my next PNA appt (which is on Aug. 11), I should not be sleeping on my back anymore. I've been pretty consistently trying to sleep on my side for the past couple of weeks already b/c my back gets a little achy when I lie on it for long, so now I have doctor's orders to try and avoid it. I know the drill though, dont freak if I wake up and I'm on my back, just roll to the side and go back to sleep.

The pillow between my leg deal has also been my best friend at night. =) And I bought a very comfy cheap sports bra on sale and I've slept with that on the last couple of nights. I like it b/c I'm not used to these puppies being so big and it feels weird to have the bottoms of my BBs touching my skin underneath. Very uncomfortable for someone who's never been that big ever before.

Next hurdle is having a great anatomy scan (and where the perinatologist will be checking our baby's heart) next Monday. And coming up, this weekend we reach our halfway point in the pregnancy!!!

Oh and the craziness of weight gain!! I've gained 6 lbs since my last appointment for a total weight gain of 14 lbs! I'm soooo watching what I eat from now on!!!

So "he" is actually a...

Can you guess?




Ok if you're having a hard time (believe me, me and DH were a little stumped at first....I mean, we dont know what we're looking at...so we tentatively asked, "A boy?" Dr. O chuckled and zoomed in and gave us this picture, which left no doubt.)



IT'S A BOY!

Needless to say, the ultra sound with the perinatologist, Dr. O, went well! We actually saw the doctor for a total of 10 minutes, but had to sit in the waiting room for about two hours!! (They had had a prior emergency). Doc was funny and tried to explain the quad results and whether we were going to decide to do the amnio as a comparison to playing black jack in Las Vegas. The explanation was actually a little confusing to me, but I'm glad he tried to put it in laymens terms. (Part of me wanted to just say, look doc, tell it to me straight, in technical terms. I've done so much research, that I'll probably understand that best. But of course I didn't).

Thanks be to God, our baby is completely healthy and normal! Doc even went on to say that our ultrasound was "boring!" That's awesome. We LOVE boring. So of course, we're not going to do an amnio. Dr. O is having us come back in a month to take a better look at the heart though, only becaust at 16 weeks, the baby is too young to really get a good look at it (but we did see the four chambers of the heart, which I read is normal). (I've also read previously that the heart is more fully developed, and easier to view, around 22 weeks, so no alarm there.) Hey, I get one more closer look at MY SON!! Holy moly, I cannot believe I just typed that. That was the first time I've ever referred to this baby as MY SON!

We are just so over the moon!

God is so glorious! Prayer and faith really works!!!!

Looks like we're not doing a gender reveal party. We're just too excited, we are bursting with the news.

Here's a parting photo of OUR SON!!! (Isn't he cute and handsome already? lol, such a proud mommy).

Spotting scare(s)

As if yesterday's news wasn't enough, I also started spotting (again). However, it was bright bright red blood last night and boy did that freak me out. It was after hours when it started, so I called the advice nurse line for after hours and they instructed me to go straight to the hospital, L&D. When I got there, there was a slight mix up, b/c apparently, L&D only takes moms beyond 20 weeks, and I'm only 15.5 weeks. They were wonderful though, and took me anyway. (It may have helped that when they started asking me about my MC history, I started bawling...bc it's really difficult to talk about when you think you're going through another one). Luckily, PRAISE GOD, baby is completely fine! He was just kicking away on the screen and his heartbeat still sounded strong and regular. The doc was informed of my big u/s appointment being pushed up to next week b/c of my abnormal quad results, but she reassured me that based on what she could see, baby looked completely normal and healthy. She was very reassuring about my spotting and explained that sometimes, some women just bleed. (She called it a "friable cervix" and compared it to people that easily have nose bleeds.) She also mentioned that sometimes, when a placenta is low and covers the cervix, this could be a cause for concern, but noted that my placenta, while a little low, did not appear to be covering the cervix. She said that the doctor I'll be seeing next week tuesday is a specialist at these kinds of things and that I'd find out more from him then.

I was discharged home shortly with the instructions to take it easy till the appointment, which includes not going into work today or Monday and Tuesday. Now, with my occupation, that's not always easily do-able, but I'm going to try. The health of this little one depends on it. The bleeding stopped as soon as it came last night, and no more till this morning. However, the spotting was much lighter and dark brown. Kinda like that slight scare I had a couple weeks ago. I'm feeling a little crampy down there, but I'm not sure if its the normal off and on crampy that I've been feeling throughout the pregnancy which we all attribute to my uterus growing or something else. I'm not sure what's going on with me.

I'm reminded very much of my fellow bloggy friend (who interstingly enough, also had a septate uterus and surgery to correct it after a two losses) who was also "a bleeder". She's getting ready to give birth to her healthy baby boy any second. =) Hi Meg!! Her story has always been an inspiration from me, even before I found out I had a SU and for some reason I've always been drawn to her blog. Now that I find out that our stories our soooo similar, I've been finding myself perusing her blog to see how she felt and dealt with things when she was as far along as I was. I find it very helpful and reassuring. God works wonders doesn't he?

I'm continuing to pray and put my anxiety and trust on and in the Lord. Nothing is impossible for Him and I know He answers prayers. He's already answered my prayers, and I know I will have a beautiful, healthy, normal, baby come December 2009. That's all I need to know. Believe and Receive.

3rd/4th PNA update

Work has been hectic recently and it has prevented me from posting about yesterday's appointment, till now. (However, I have been praying to God to help me find a resolution to this hectic work issue and, what do ya know, the Lord has answered! I received some reprieve today, and I'm praying the issue will be resolved by the end of the week! God is really good!)

As for the appointment, it went great! It's so amazing and wonderful to have such positive appointments. Such a beautiful change from those awful appointments I had been having all through the end of last year. DH and I went in and met with my OBGYN, Dr. M, and we were able to discuss a ton of questions that I had written down (since I obviously seem to forget them on the spur of the moment). I got generally good responses to my questions, and Dr. M even commended me on my questions and dedication to exercise. He said he does not often have a pregnant patient who exercises (he approximated that 1 in 10 of his patients exercise), so that was nice to hear.

He also measured my uterus, by taking out a tape measure and measuring from my pubic bone to where he felt the top of my uterus was externally, and said it measured 15.5 CM which he said is just right for how far along I am in pregnancy (15.5 weeks). He also noted that my weight gain was appropriate too - 8lbs total so far (though, I'm always a little concerned about that one).

Then we got down to business. He pulled out the doppler and we looked for baby's heartbeat. He found it much quicker than it took NP Wonderful at the last, last appointment, so that was reassuring. He estimated that baby's average heartbeat was 140BPM. He said anything above 120 is healthy! (Hmmm, according to that old wives tale, anything above 140 would tend to indicate girl and anything under 140 would tend to indicate a boy...guess this baby is not giving away any hints as to what he or she is for now.) He also pointed out how strong and consistent the heartbeat was, which he said was good and indicated a healthy heart. He said if the baby had complications, the heartbeat would not have been as loud or consistent.

It was also cool to hear how the baby would move about while we listened to the heartbeat. The doctor would comment on it and note that he had to switch the doppler's position a bit to "chase" him. Of course, at 15 and half weeks, I still didn't feel any of these movements. Doc said not to worry, that usually, women in their first pregnancy dont feel or recognize baby's movements until 19-22 weeks. He also said baby wont be consistently kicking (which would mean I would need to do daily kick counts) till week 27 or 28.

Over all, Dr. M said we were doing well and applauded me for the great work. I said, it's not me, it's the baby doing well! (And God, of course!). I go back to see him in one month, on July 14. And of course, we have our BIG u/s on July 7 with the peri (or is it neo?) -natologist!!! Sooooo very exciting and a little scary (we'll be checking for birth defects too)!

Quick note on the symptom front - this morning was the first time in a long time I had nausea. I hadn't eaten breakfast before heading into work (b/c food was sounding nasty at the moment, but dont worry i wasn't planning to starve, I packed a breakfast to eat at the office) and during the drive in, I felt the urge to gag and felt very queasy. I quickly got out some dried fruit I had packed as a snack but that was not helping. I got into work and my pregnant co-worker and secretary (mother of 2) noted my pale queasy state and suggested I eat crackers. Luckily I had a stash at work, so I munched on that, and ALL better! =)

Next up, planning my gender reveal party!